Fitment benefit in the form of Grade Pay provided by 6th CPC was computed based on highest pre-revised pay in each of the pre-revised Pay Scale – Fitment benefit advocated by previous pay commisions were reckoned with Pre-revised basic Pay drawn on the effective date of CPC

While Central Government Employees keep their fingers crossed after 7th Pay Commission finished all the interaction sessions with the Employees Federations and started finalising its report to be submitted to Govt, many surmises and speculations have already started filling the air through Internet and through word of mouth about possible 7th CPC pay fixation methods.

Some of those 7th Pay Commission rumours are as follows

There will be no running Pay band and Grade Pay System

The Minimum Pay will be Rs. 21000

The uniform multiplication factor for arriving revised pay will be 2.86

The Criteria for retirement age will be either completion of 33 Years of service or at the age of 60 Years whichever is earlier.

Interestingly, these rumours are spread out this time carry the tags as “inside information provided by Employees federations which participated in the 7th Pay Commission meetings”. The very character of a rumour is, it may be true or false. God only knows.

Among these, the unconfirmed news that 7th Pay Commission is to discard Pay Band – Grade Pay System may be affecting the Pay Structure of Central Government Employees very much if it is true.

In fact this is an off-shoot of proposal moot out by Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers in its reply to 7th Pay Commission Questionnaire

In this background, we made an analysis as to whether discarding of Grade Pay System would be beneficial to Central Government Employees.

As per the proposal of Confederation, the Pay Band and Grade Pay system evolved by the 6th CPC brought about innumerable anomalies and the same has to be replaced by the Pay scale structure, which was in vogue prior to the implementation of the 6th CPC.

What was Pay Scale Structure prior to 6th CPC ? How fixation pay was made in that pay scale ?

5th Pay Commission Pay fixation Method :

As per Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules 1997 which was notified by Ministry of Finance for implementation of 5th Pay Commission Report, Revised Pay Scales against 4th CPC pay scales are as follows

4th CPC Pay scales

5th CPC pay scales

750-12-870-14-940

S-1

2550-55-2660-60-3200

775-12-871-12-1025

S-2

2610-60-3150-65-3540

775-12871-14-955-15-1030-20-1150

S-2A

2610-60-2910-65-3300-70-4000

800-15-1010-20-1150

S-3

2650-65-3300-70-4000

825-15-900-20-1200

S-4

2750-70-3800-75-4400

950-20-1150-25-1400/950-20-1150-25-1500/1150-25-1500

S-5

3050-75-3950-80-4590

975-25-1150-30-1540/975-25-1150-30-1660

S-6

3200-85-4900

1200-30-1440-30-1800/1200-30-1560-40-2040/1320-30-1560-40-2040

S-7

4000-100-6000

1350-30-1440-40-1800-50-2200/1400-40-1800-50-2300

S-8

4500-125-7000

1400-40-1600-50-2300-60-2600/1600-50-2300-60-2660

S-9

5000-150-8000

1640-60-2600-75-2900

S-10

5500-175-9000

2000-60-2120

S-11

6500-200-6900

2000-60-2300-75-3200/2000-60-2300-75-3200-3500

S-12

6500-200-10500

2375-75-3200-100-3500 / 2375-75-3200-100-3500-125-3750

S-13

7450-225-11500

2500-4000

S-14

7500-250-12000

2200-75-2800-100-4000/2300-100-2800

S-15

8000-275-13500

2200-75-2800-100-4000

NEW SCALE

8000-275-13500(Group A Entry)

2630/- FIXED

S-16

9000

2630-75-2780

S-17

9000-275-9550

3150-100-3350

S-18

10325-325-10975

3000-125-3625/3000-100-3500-125-4500/ 3000-100-3500-125-5000

S-19

10000-325-15200

3200-100-3700-125-4700

S-20

10650-325-15850

3700-150-4450/3700-125-4700-150-5000

S-21

12000-375-16500

3950-125-4700-150-5000

S-22

12750-375-16500

3700-125-4950-150-5700

S-23

12000-375-18000

4100-125-4850-150-5300/4500-150-5700

S-24

14300-400-18300

4800-150-5700

S-25

15100-400-18300

5100-150-5700/5100-150-6150/5100-150-5700

-200-6300

S-26

16400-450-20000

5100-150-6300-200-6700

S-27

16400-450-20900

4500-150-5700-200-7300

S-28

14300-450-22400

5900-200-6700/5900-200-7300

S-29

18400-500-22400

7300-100-7600

S-30

22400-525-24500

7300-200-7500-250-8000

S-31

22400-600-26000

7600/-FIXED /7600-100-8000

S-32

24050-650-26000

8000/- FIXED

S-33

26000(FIXED)

9000/- FIXED

S-34

30000(FIXED)

Further, 5th CPC revised pay of Central Government Employees was worked out by adding DA as on 01.01.1996, two installments of Interim Relief (IR-1 and IR-2) and 40% of pre-revised basic pay with Pre-Revised Basic pay drawn as on 01.01.1996. Then resultant revised basic pay was stepped up to nearest incremented pay in the revised 5th CPC pay scale against the existing 4th CPC pay scale in which the pay was drawn. The following illustration would provide clear cut idea about 5th Pay Commission Pay fixation method

Illustration for 5th Pay Commission Pay fixation

Existing 4th CPC pay scale

Rs. 1640-60-2600-75-2900

Revised 5th CPC pay scale

Rs. 5500-175-9000

Pre-Revised Basic Pay

Rs. 2360

D.A as on 01.01.1996 @ 148%

Rs. 3493

IR-1

Rs. 100

IR-2

Rs. 236

Add 40% of pre-revised B.P

Rs. 944

Total

Rs. 7133

Nearest incremented pay in revised 5th CPC pay scale —-A

Rs, 7250

If one increment is ensured in the revised pay scale for every three increments in the pre-revised pay scale, the revised basic will be —- B

From the above it could be found that fitment benefit of 40% is calculated using the pre-revised basic pay received by an employee as on 01.01.1997. On the contrary, in the case of fitment benefit allowed by 6th Pay Commission in the form of Grade Pay, it has been calculated at 40% of highest Pay in each of 5th CPC Pre-Revised pay scale.

6th Pay Commission Pay Band and Grade Pay hierarchy

5th CPC Pay Scales

6th CPC Pay Band and Grade Pay

GRADE

SCALE

Pay Band

Grade Pay

S-1

2550-55-2660-60-3200

-1S

4440-7440

1300

S-2

2610-60-3150-65-3540

-1S

4440-7440

1400

S-2A

2610-60-2910-65-3300-70-4000

-1S

4440-7440

1600

S-3

2650-65-3300-70-4000

-1S

4440-7440

1650

S-4

2750-70-3800-75-4400

PB-1

5200-20200

1800

S-5

3050-75-3950-80-4590

PB-1

5200-20200

1900

S-6

3200-85-4900

PB-1

5200-20200

2000

S-7

4000-100-6000

PB-1

5200-20200

2400

S-8

4500-125-7000

PB-1

5200-20200

2800

S-9

5000-150-8000

PB-2

9300-34800

4200

S-10

5500-175-9000

PB-2

9300-34800

4200

S-11

6500-200-6900

PB-2

9300-34800

4200

S-12

6500-200-10500

PB-2

9300-34800

4200

S-13

7450-225-11500

PB-2

9300-34800

4600

S-14

7500-250-12000

PB-2

9300-34800

4800

S-15

8000-275-13500

PB-2

9300-34800

5400

NEW SCALE

8000-275-13500(Group A Entry)

PB-3

15600-39100

5400

S-16

9000

PB-3

15600-39100

5400

S-17

9000-275-9550

PB-3

15600-39100

5400

S-18

10325-325-10975

PB-3

15600-39100

6600

S-19

10000-325-15200

PB-3

15600-39100

6600

S-20

10650-325-15850

PB-3

15600-39100

6600

S-21

12000-375-16500

PB-3

15600-39100

7600

S-22

12750-375-16500

PB-3

15600-39100

7600

S-23

12000-375-18000

PB-3

15600-39100

7600

S-24

14300-400-18300

PB-4

37400-67000

8700

S-25

15100-400-18300

PB-4

37400-67000

8700

S-26

16400-450-20000

PB-4

37400-67000

8900

S-27

16400-450-20900

PB-4

37400-67000

8900

S-28

14300-450-22400

PB-4

37400-67000

10000

S-29

18400-500-22400

PB-4

37400-67000

10000

S-30

22400-525-24500

PB-4

37400-67000

12000

S-31

22400-600-26000

HAG+SCALE

75500-80000

NIL

S-32

24050-650-26000

HAG+SCALE

75500-80000

NIL

S-33

26000(FIXED)

APEX SCALE

80000(FIXED)

NIL

S-34

30000(FIXED)

CAB. SEC.

90000(FIXED)

NIL

We are of the view that if the 7th CPC fitment benefit is calculated on the basis of existing pre-revised pay as in the case of 5th CPC then revised 7th CPC pay would be lesser than the revised 7th CPC Pay calculated by adopting the methods 6th CPC, in which grade pay (fitment benefit) has been arrived at on the basis of highest pay in the pre-revised pay Scale.

At the same time it may not be viable to arrive 7th CPC fitment benefit on the basis of highest Pay in each of Pay Band as 6th CPC Pay Band Structure has been designed in such a way that each of the Pay band accommodates many 5th CPC Pre-Revised Pay Scales

However, even after discarding Grade pay System, if the fitment benefit for 7th Pay Commission Pay revision is provided on the basis of highest pay in the fitment table provided vide O.M 1/1/2008-IC dated 30.08.2008 for the each of the 5th CPC Pre-Revised Pay Scale, then it would be Pay wise beneficial to Central Governement Employees.

We invite valuable opinion of readers in the form of comments to this article so that pay fixation method beneficial to CG Employees community can be highlighted